New Outback Painting in Gouache

The Lone Tree

Good morning everyone. Well, I’ve finished it at last! My new outback painting in gouache. Actually, it was three quarters finished a week ago, but I put it on our dining table . And then I looked at it a lot! Eventually I realised that there were too many clouds for the balance of the design to be pleasing.

So I used the ‘Draw’ function on the editing system and covered up the excess clouds on the image of my painting. Until it looked good, then I altered the painting itself. In my opinion, this is a great way to try out variations without using a paint brush. In fact, it’s really useful when painting in gouache as it is quite difficult to alter on the paper. Obviously it’s not as forgiving as acrylic when it comes to ‘mending’ mistakes. But you can learn how to do it by trial and error.

Another part of my process that is different when using gouache is adding trees over a background. Normally, I would paint the tree in right from the beginning. Then ‘cut’ the paint of the sky, for example, around it. After that I would progress all parts of the painting at the same time. To my eyes this looks better. However, here I simply put down the lower tree trunk as a marker and painted all the rest of it later. And it felt very strange!

My Outback Painting
The Lone Tree – a closeup

Anyway, I felt pleased with how it turned out, because it’s all a learning process. If you want to see how I painted one of my earlier gouache paintings, see here. Hopefully you can see a bit of improvement? But the beauty of painting with gouache is feeling a definite sense of achievement after each one you do.

Virtual Travelling to Queensland, Australia

A Hot Day in Queensland, Australia

Good morning everyone. Today I thought I would feature some of the paintings at present on show in the Buzz Gallery at Rotherham Roar. And I think this must be my favourite, the tin roofed little house in the Outback. Actually, I did feel the heat as I was painting it, in my imagination at least. This was just one of my adventures in virtual travelling in Australia.

The Morning Sun on the Crags

Another one of the paintings I enjoyed painting was this beautiful view over the rocky, exposed crags . To be honest, I learned a useful tip from our tutor Rod Moore here. In order to achieve that effect, I painted the red rock colours with horizontal strokes and then dragged a dry brush downwards, carefully over the paint.

The Australia Section

Incidentally, I painted the Mary River picture on Rod’s course too. But this time in gouache, not acrylic. However, it didn’t make the final cut into the show. So, here it is for you to see.

The Mary River, Queensland, Australia

Well, I hope you enjoyed my virtual travelling along with me. It certainly lifted my spirits during the past two years, as you can see in this post here.

All my work is for sale at reasonable prices. For example, the Mary River painting is £40 plus shipping, unframed. Just go to the Contact Me page and send me an email for more details.

New Solo Exhibition Now Open

The Poster

Good morning everyone. My new solo exhibition is now open, until the end of March at the Buzz Gallery, Rotherham Roar. What a pleasure it was to put it together and then to see it actually on the wall. Actually, I haven’t displayed works on paper unframed before. And I was surprised at the immediacy of the paintings without glass or frames. In my opinion they made much more of an impact. And I could see this in the strong emotional reactions of the visitors. Admittedly, we did it this way because the walls weren’t suitable for hanging. However, it was a bright, lively display which demanded attention. Exactly what I wanted!

The Three Sections of my New Solo Exhibition

As I was choosing acrylic paintings on paper , I realised that they fell roughly into three categories: British landscapes, Australian scenes and abstracts. So, that was how I displayed them. For example, in the general landscape section I placed this painting, a scene inspired by enjoyable holidays in the Lake District, UK.

Next, here I can show you the Australian group of paintings. And these are some of the results of an online course tutored by Rod Moore from Queensland. When two of my artbuddies said how much it reminded them of trips to Australia, I was delighted!

The Red Path

Finally, my favourite section – the abstracted and semi abstracted landscape. In fact, I kept changing my mind what to include here. But, I had to make room for this one, which certainly commanded a lot of attention!

Jagged

Well, there certainly was a great deal of work in mounting my new solo exhibition, but I had a blast! And, to top it off, the minute the show was live, a very delighted customer took my ‘Bluebell Wood ‘ painting to a new home! If you want to have a look at the last solo exhibition I did before the pandemic, see this post here.

Bluebell Wood

In the Hot, Dry Desert

In the hot, dry desert, an old shack in the afternoon heat.
In the Outback

Good morning everyone. Well, I must admit that I was quite pleased with the way I painted this acrylic of the hot, dry desert. As you might know, it is another of the projects in the Learn to Paint Academy course I am following. And the photo was taken by Rod Moore (our tutor) when he took a trip into the outback. Apparently, the temperature was rising to 44° on that particular afternoon! So, it really is a good job that I don’t live in Australia. Because I would just melt into a small puddle!

Home in the Hot, Dry Desert.

Closeup of “In the Outback

As I hope you can see, the heat was positively bouncing off the corrugated iron roof. And this derelict old house with chimney, stove and veranda must have provided a refuge from the heat for someone. Actually, I enjoyed painting this scene- it was something different for me, living as I do in rainy Britain. In fact, trying to put some perspective in that expanse of sand was quite a challenge. And when I added the dense areas of shade around the house it was very satisfying.

A Camel – Ship of the Desert?

A Camel waiting for tourists in the Egyptian desert, next to a pyramid. In gouache.
Ship of the desert – photo by Jose Ignacio Pompe on Unsplash

Now, quite by chance, I painted this in gouache paint a couple of weeks ago for my Beginner Gouache group on Mewe. As the theme for the month was Egypt, I chose a photo of a camel and the handler. And they were waiting for tourists who, after a tour of the pyramid site, were eager for a ride into the hot, dry desert.

Obviously, I cropped the photo right down to get a quirky view of the animal. And then, just to complicate matters, I set myself the challenge of painting in an abstract style. To explain, I would treat each shape as a separate block of colour and texture. And, hopefully, I would not distort the sense of the image too much. Just an artistic experiment!

Have a look at this post here to see a different type of desert – “Drylands” , more of a science fiction scene, really.

Two Acrylic Practice Paintings – Works in Progress

A dreamy view over the beautiful Australian countryside to the distant Mountains m, in the early morning light , one of my acrylic practice paintings.
The Red Path

As some of you may know, I am following an online course on painting at the moment. And I’d like to show you two of my acrylic practice paintings. In fact, the painting above is almost completely finished and I decided to leave it a while. To be honest, I am learning such a lot on this course. And I want to think a bit more about the techniques and design ideas I now know about. Then, later I will bring the painting to completion. However, I am fairly pleased with the stage I have brought it to. Incidentally, this method of working is quite new to me. Actually, I usually work in a more impulsive manner, but I do always put a lot of thought into my paintings.

New Techniques and Design Ideas in my Practice Paintings

In this painting, I used a different choice of colours on the palette, following the instruction given. And, this took me right out of my comfort zone, which can be a good thing! But, as you can see, these were the right choices for this dreamy Australian landscape. Secondly, I attempted to blend the colours in the sky – again something I never try to do. Admittedly, I need to practise this more, but then, hopefully, I will have acquired a new skill.

The Tribute to Monet Acrylic Painting

A spectacular deep lily pond with pink and white blossoms - one of my acrylic practice paintings.
The Lily Pond

Again, I must make it clear that this one of my acrylic practice paintings just lacks the final finishing touches. And , I’m prepared to leave it a while before I decide how much extra detail to add, if any. As you can see, there were plenty of challenges in this. Including, naturally, the subject – reflections on still water, a subject I have skillfully avoided until now! Well, I did do my best, but there’s room for improvement. On the other hand, I managed to suggest perspective in the floating flowers and leaves. That is, to put it simply, the furthest ones smaller and the nearest ones bigger and all at the correct angle to suggest they are lying on the water. Baby steps I know, but it’s very valuable to a self taught artist like me ! I really can’t wait to see what else I can learn. If you want to see a painting that I completed with the tutor’s help, see this post here . I will post another update soon!

My Online Learning – Gouache Landscape Painting

A sunny landscape in Australia with a small river flowing through a limestone gorge - a gouache painting done as part of my online learning.
The Creek

Good morning, everyone. I’d like to tell you about the online learning that I’ve been spending time on these past two weeks. Well, it was a free five day challenge. But I could take my time with it and that was much more doable. Actually, it was very well structured and each unit was almost self contained.

The Colour Mixing

The Colour Chart

So, we started off experimenting with colour mixing using a restricted palette – ultramarine blue ( my favourite ! ) , crimson red and yellow ochre. The yellow ochre was a bit of a surprise as the primary yellow. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how many lovely colours I could mix with this combination. Of course, white was also allowed. In fact, the main benefit of this exercise for me was that I actually sat down and did the chart. To be honest, I’ve always been too lazy to do it before!

Online Learning – the Tonal Sketch

A quick sketch of the landscape in black, white and grey to show the light and shade, part of the online learning.
The Tonal Sketch

Again, for me this was very helpful. Because I am always in too much of a hurry to plan out a light and shade version of my subject. Despite knowing that it is a Good Thing to do ! Anyway, we concentrated on five tones between light and dark. As you can see, I struggled with the ones in the middle. But, my excuse is that gouache paint is quite difficult sometimes. In fact, it can dry a different shade from the one you thought you had mixed.

The Blocking in Stage

Again, this section of the process was done quite methodically, instead of haphazardly, which is my usual method of working. In my own defence, I am a self-taught artist and it’s good to get some proper tuition.

The Finished Painting

The Creek

Finally, after two more excellent sessions, I produced this thoroughly finished off gouache painting of a summer landscape in Australia. I really did enjoy the online learning and the end product. And, I must say a big thank you to Rod Moore of the Learn to Paint Academy see here . Imagine, all this top class tuition was a fab free gift and I appreciate that. Happy Painting!

If you would like to see more of my attempts at showing light and shade in the landscape , see here . There’s another bright, sunny woodland scene in that post too, to cheer us all up!